The British government is giving Irish-Scottish green energy developer Aquamarine Power close to €6 million to aid the manufacture of its latest wave-powered electricity generator, reports Barry O’Halloran.

Aquamarine Power is working on the development of its second-generation wave-energy system Oyster 2, and plans to manufacture models for testing at the European Marine Energy Centre, a designated site off Orkney in Scotland, this year.

The company said yesterday it had secured £5.1 million (€5.85 million) in funding from the British government’s Marine Renewables Proving Fund to support Oyster 2’s manufacture.

The fund is a £22 million initiative backed by Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change and managed by the Carbon Trust, a UK government company which is designed to accelerate the development of promising marine energy technology.

Aquamarine hooked up its first-generation Oyster system to the British national grid at Orkney in November.